Wake Me Up
by rideswithprongs
Summary: The sound of an alarm goes off, but rather than serving its purpose and getting Lily out of bed, it only causes her to burrow deeper under the covers. Unsurprisingly, James doesn't even stir beside her; alarms have never been very good at rousing him... Lily tries to get James out of bed, whilst he tries to get her to stay in!


The sound of an alarm goes off, but rather than serving its purpose and getting Lily out of bed, it only causes her to burrow deeper under the covers. Unsurprisingly, James doesn't even stir beside her; alarms have never been very good at rousing him and he has always needed one of the boys to smack him around the head with a pillow to get him up. Since he and Lily have started sleeping in the same bed nearly every night, she has taken over the job of waking him up, though her method of doing so is much kinder. But today she cannot seem to force herself to open her eyes either; the strong pull of sleep is keeping its tight grip on her and she doesn't really feel inclined to resist it. With the term now drawing to a close she is feeling exhausted and desperate for the holiday.

Lily drifts back into sleep easily and when she is suddenly startled out of it – by James twitching his leg beside hers in his sleep – she feels as though she has slept again for hours. She sits up quickly, gasping, and makes a grab for the clock that sits beside James' bed. In reality only about ten minutes have passed, so Lily relaxes back into the pillow, her heart rate, which had sped up at the fear they'd overslept by hours, beginning to slow down.

She decides to give James another couple of minutes – they'll miss breakfast but not class, so she doesn't see the harm – before she wakes him. As she waits she glances over at him, a fond smile tugging at the corners of her lips at the way his hair is sticking up in even more directions than usual. She always thinks he looks like a small child when he sleeps – it is the only time she sees him looking so innocent – and the way his mouth smiles even in sleep makes her want to kiss it.

She does so now, as his two minutes are nearly up anyway, rolling onto her side so she is closer to him, her head tilting down towards him so she can press her mouth against his. "Time to wake up," she whispers gently against his lips.

In response a hand come up to her face and pushes it away, the owner of said hand rolling over to face the other direction. Lily would be offended if she wasn't used to this kind of behaviour by now. Knowing that the only way to win the battle of rousing James is perseverance, she shifts even closer to him so her front is pressed against his back, whilst her lips find the exposed skin at the back of his neck and settle themselves there.

A better response comes her way this time, in the form of a low groan, but still James stays motionless and his breath is shallow and slow enough for Lily to know that he isn't quite properly awake. In her third attempt she ups the stakes, running her hand down the warm skin of his back to the top of the waistband of his boxers, where her fingertips trace gentle patterns.

Despite James very obviously pretending to be asleep because he is enjoying the feeling of her stroking his skin, Lily knows he has now woken up, from the way his breathing suddenly quickens. Stilling her hand in its movements, she says, louder this time than when she spoke before, "I know you're awake."

A few seconds pass until James eventually speaks. "No I'm not. And don't stop doing that," he mumbles, the words falling sleepily from his mouth.

"James," Lily wheedles, keeping her hand painfully still. An irritated sigh is her answer, but then James rolls over to face her. "Good morning sleepy head," she smiles at him.

"I can't get up," he pouts.

"You never can."

"But this is different. Usually it's because I don't want to, but today I physically _can't_," he moans like a petulant child and Lily raises her eyebrows at him. "I'm too tired."

"Me too, but we have class. Get up," she commands, though she cannot deny that even she doesn't want to get up either; the urge to pull the covers up over her head is growing stronger each second she stays in the warm bed.

It's as if James can sense the resistance in her. Winding an arm around her waist, he pulls her tight against him, and uses his other arm to grab onto the duvet and pull it comfortably over their shoulders. "Let's just stay in bed today," he says, peering over Lily's head to look at the clock. "Besides, we've missed breakfast and I'm not going to class on an empty stomach."

"No. No way. We can't," Lily replies, but as adamant as she might sound, her actions tell an entirely different story. Her feet hook into the bottom of the duvet, pulling it tighter around her legs and she puts her head in the spot on James' chest where it normally rests when they are sleeping.

James knows he almost has her, so pushing the duvet away from her shoulder slightly to expose her skin, he leans forward and gently nips at it, making Lily shudder. "C'mon Evans, stay in bed with me," he cajoles as his teeth graze her skin. "It's the end of term anyway, we're not really doing anything in class."

"We're meant to set an example, we're Head Boy and Girl," she answers, but it's half-hearted and anyway, they both know she is going to stay; if she really wanted to get them both out of bed she would have done so by now.

"Think about it though Evans. No annoying classmates, no annoying dorm mates, no annoying professors. Just you and I, all day, _alone_."

Lily rolls her eyes, letting out a deep, resentful sigh, as though James has twisted her arm, when, really, he had her the minute he first suggested they stay in bed. "Fine," she says disgruntledly, trying not to make it sound as though she is as desperate not to get up as he is. "But this is the _only _time I am skipping with you," she adds warningly.

James grins happily, not at all fooled by her resentful sighs and leans forward so he can press a hard kiss to her mouth. "Hey, can I tell you something?" he asks, not even bothering to pull away, so that the words fall against her mouth.

"Mhm," Lily murmurs distractedly.

"I love you." It's the first time he has said that, but Lily doesn't find herself being as surprised as she'd always thought she would be; the words sound completely natural coming from him and she finds it equally as natural to say them back.

"I love you too," she says happily, wondering if she will ever mean it as much as she does now.

"Even when I'm a pain who makes you miss class?"

"Even then." James grins again, his mouth searching for hers eagerly and finding, his tongue meeting hers in the familiar, yet still completely exciting dance they seem to have perfected in such a short space of time.

As their kiss gets more heated, James rolls over on top of her so she is trapped beneath him, whilst his hands slip under the duvet and down to her hips, his fingers stroking the sensitive skin there.

"I thought you wanted to sleep," Lily teases.

"Nah, we've got all day to sleep," James drawls before silencing her with another kiss.


End file.
